Hemlocke Springs is ready to pull listeners into her technicolour imagination once more. The North Carolina-born alt-pop visionary has announced her debut album ‘The Apple Tree Under The Sea’, arriving 13 February 2026 via AWAL, and shared its surreal new single, ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Ankles’.
A self-described “fever dream” of a record, ‘The Apple Tree Under The Sea’ traces a journey of self-discovery and spiritual unravelling, one that sees Hemlocke confronting the chaos and repression of her past to claim a freer, more authentic self. “I grew up very religiously —Christianity is very pertinent in Nigerian culture and the Black community — and I was also obedient to my elders,” she explains. “This album starts with a character going through the desert who says, ‘I’m going to do your will.’ They could be saying it to God or a man, but then they come across the apple. It’s about me being in this bubble, and realising that being in that bubble was tougher than I thought, and then finally getting out and exploring who I really am.”
The record, co-produced with BURNS (Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Charli XCX), promises Hemlocke’s most adventurous work yet — full of dramatic gasps, theatrical vocals and a signature mix of wit and wonder. On ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Ankles’, she channels a formative nightmare into something gloriously chaotic and cathartic.
Since first emerging with the 2022 viral hits ‘Gimme All Ur Luv’ and ‘Girlfriend’, Hemlocke Springs has become one of pop’s most idiosyncratic new voices — admired by the likes of Grimes, Steve Lacy and Doechii, and championed by Chappell Roan, with whom she recently toured across the US. Her 2023 EP ‘going…going…GONE!’ cemented her as a true world-builder, blending medieval motifs, R&B eccentricities and high-concept storytelling into something unmistakably her own.
Now based in Los Angeles, Hemlocke Springs is ready for her next chapter. And we’re excited to hear more.
